Etymologically
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scelerate

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Forms

scelerātē (comparative scelerātius, superlative scelerātissimē)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin scelerātus (“wicked, accursed”) + -ē.[1] scelerātus is formed from scelus (“crime”),[2] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *skelos and Proto-Indo-European *skel-os (“curve, bending”), cognate with Ancient Greek σκολιός (skoliós, “crooked, unjust”); the meaning would have shifted from “crooked” to “wicked”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium,[2] and Cicero uses it often.[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is “wickedly, criminally”, the opposite of piē: Cicero contrasts speaking wickedly against someone with speaking dutifully for him.[4] He calls a war wickedly undertaken, says a house was built more wickedly than it was pulled down, and uses the superlative of plots most wickedly contrived.[6][4] Livy has it too,[6] and the comparative appears in the Vulgate's Ezekiel.[5]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium has the adverb.[2]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a war wickedly undertaken.[6][4][2]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has the adverb.[6][2]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the comparative.[5][2]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. With heinous wickedness, criminally, atrociously.[1][4][5][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier